Page 11 of If It's You

Maizie pointed to the ground. “One foot wide, two feet deep.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Christian mock saluted her, which earned him a killer glare from her.

Does she have any other expressions?

Christian stepped away and started digging. He was much slower than the other two. For the small girl that she was, Maizie worked harder and faster than he did. It was embarrassing. And infuriating. He dug the shovel harder into the dirt.

“So what happened last night? Did Lindsay ask about me?” Jayce asked.

“Why would Lindsay ask about you?” Maizie put down her shovel and retrieved a fence post from the back of the truck.

“Hold this, will you?” Maizie laid the post against Christian’s shoulder without warning and it slid off his arm. He jumped out of the way just before it fell on his foot.

“Sure, princess,” he muttered under his breath.

Maizie whirled on him. “What did you just call me?”

Her green eyes bore into him, but he refused to back down. “You sure act like royalty around here.”

The glare in her eyes was frightening but also kind of cute, and it lit a spark of excitement in his chest.

She pursed her lips then turned away. She obviously wasn’t used to someone talking back to her.

“Why did you bring him?” Maizie asked Jayce loud enough for Christian to hear.

Christian rolled his eyes. It wasn’t that hard to ask someone to do something nicely and then apologize for almost hurting them.

Jayce gave him a look that said, “What are you doing?” but Christian just shrugged it off.

“What about Lindsay? Does she like me?” Jayce changed the subject again.

“Get over her. She’ll never give you the time of day,” Maizie said.

“What about your boyfriend?”

“He’ll never give you the time of day, either.”

Christian hid a smile beneath his glove. She was quick. He could give her that.

Jayce clasped his heart. “Shucks.”

Maizie laughed. “He asked me to grad night,” she blurted out, and a huge smile split her face.

Christian was taken aback by her sudden outburst of emotion. He hadn’t seen anything from this girl besides annoyance, for him. But now she was young and in love.

He might prefer the annoying side.

* * *

Maizie hadn’t meantto let that slip out so fast, but she was dying to tell someone. And Jayce was one of her best friends.

“Aren’t guys supposed to ask their girlfriends to dances?”

Of course he would see it like a guy. “Yeah,” Maizie said, rolling her eyes. “But he had a song and everything.” She filled Jayce in on the rest of the night and how Lindsay had climbed on the piano during karaoke. While she spoke, she made it a point to ignore everything about Christian’s existence.

Especially his muscles. She was not watching his large biceps flex with each shovelful he pulled from the ground.

He was testy this morning. Or maybe that was just his personality. She didn’t know him. But she knew one thing for sure. He didn’t belong here. And she would prove it to him.